This book takes an inside look at the drama, tragedy, fatigue and pathos of war, from America's early nineteenth century struggles as a fledgling republic to its emergence as a superpower in the twentieth. Based on nearly a decade of archival research, battlefield visits, interviews, and intensive study, and illustrated with copious maps and photographs, this book is a moving, authoritative, tale of Americans in combat.

"A Tom Doherty Associates book."

The beginning of the regiment: The Battle of New Orleans -- "Thirty years of peace": the life of the soldier in the antebellum years -- Assault troops without peer: The Mexican War -- Reclaimed honor: The Civil War -- Instruments of manifest destiny: the final frontier years -- First fight on overseas shores: The Spanish-American War -- The Cottonbalers' first modern war: World War I -- The greatest war, World War II: Operation Torch Through Rome -- The greatest war, World War II: Riviera to Berchtesgaden.